In Texas, Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov issued a new report, “Gen2 Biofuel Feedstocks: The Coming Surge in Energy Crops and Cellulosic Sugars.” Molchanov writes: As energy investors know well, it is much better to own the oil than to refine it. In other words, the bulk of the value is in the upstream of the value chain. Next-generation (Gen2) biofuels and renewable chemicals have a somewhat different market dynamic – there is considerable value in the proprietary IP for processing – but feedstock providers can nonetheless capture a sizable share of the economics.

In his report, Molchano essays the availability of low-cost energy crops via SG Biofuels, Chromatin, NexSteppe, and Mendel, and focuses in on the availability of cellulosic and other low-cost sugars. In the latter, he looks at HCL Clean Tech, BlueFire Renewables, Weyland, EdeniQ, Agrivida, Renmatix and Proterro.